Written Answers

Friday 15 September 2000

Scottish Executive

Enterprise

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it places on the provision and availability of targeted access to capital finance as part of its enterprise review and its social inclusion strategies.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial start-up support it is able to give to community or micro-finance initiatives.

Henry McLeish: We attach importance to the provision and availability of targeted access to capital as part of our enterprise review and our social inclusion strategies. A number of schemes of support are available from the Scottish Executive and through the Enterprise Network. These include, for example, the £12 million Business Growth Fund launched last year to provide loan finance to companies unable to access sufficient support from established sources, and the new Invest for Growth scheme replacing Regional Selective Assistance grant for grants below £100,000.

  The Scottish Executive, in partnership with other organisations, also wishes to encourage the provision of and access to finance to enable social economy organisations in Scotland to develop, thereby stimulating enterprise and wealth creation in disadvantaged communities. The model to meet this aim is the Social Investment Scotland Fund.

Holyrood Project

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the cost of ancillary works adjacent to the new Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood.

Mr Tom McCabe: Davis, Langdon and Everest, the cost consultants for the Parliament Building project were asked to provide cost estimates for ancillary works. The works covered are: the roadworks within Holyrood Park, the landscaping of the Royal High Playing Fields (including possible acquisition of a small section of the Dynamic Earth site), and the demolition and replacement of the Royal Park Constables Muster room, which are the responsibility of Historic Scotland; and the road and environment improvement works affecting Horse Wynd and Reid’s Close, which are the responsibility of City of Edinburgh Council. The cost consultants’ current estimate is that the aggregate cost of these ancillary works will be £14.126 million. This figure includes fees, VAT and an allowance for contingencies.

Hospitals

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital beds there are in each health board area per thousand population.

Susan Deacon: The following table shows the number of available staffed beds in NHS hospitals in each health board area per 1,000 population for the year ending 31 March 2000. The figures, which cover all specialties, are provisional.

  NHS Staffed Beds per 1,000 Population, Year Ending 31 March 2000

  


Health Board


Beds per 1,000
Population




Argyll & Clyde


7.62




Ayrshire & Arran


5.74




Borders


6.44




Dumfries & Galloway


6.70




Fife


5.66




Forth Valley


6.71




Grampian


6.82




Greater Glasgow


7.83




Highland


6.82




Lanarkshire


6.37




Lothian


5.80




Orkney


4.40




Shetland


5.20




Tayside


8.00




Western Isles


9.00




Scotland


6.77




  Differences in the number of NHS staffed beds per 1,000 population between health boards reflect a number of factors including the healthcare needs of different populations and the fact that some hospitals provide treatment to patients from other health board areas.

Justice

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the light of recent court decisions allowing bail for persons charged with murder, it intends to ensure that trials in these cases proceed within 110 days as would be the case were the accused person remanded in custody.

Colin Boyd QC: The statutory time limit for commencement of the trial in such cases will be that applying in all other bail cases, namely 12 months from the date of the accused’s first appearance at court. It is intended that greater priority will be given to such cases, than to other bail cases, in both their investigation by precognition and their allocation to High Court sittings. The date on which the trial proceeds will require to take several factors into account, particularly the state of preparedness of the defence and whether the High Court sitting features other cases with more pressing time-bars.

Local Government Finance

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the decision on an interim special islands needs allowance payment to Argyll and Bute Council will be announced.

Mr Jack McConnell: Final decisions on the allocation of the local government finance settlement will be set out in the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2000 when it is laid in February 2000. I have agreed to meet with representatives of Argyll & Bute Council again in January to discuss further their request for additional resources.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications were received for money under the Mental Illness Specific Grant; how many applications were successful also shown as a percentage of the total number of applications, and how much money was released under the grant, broken down by local authority or by whichever area is available, for each of the last five years.

Iain Gray: Local authorities make applications to the Scottish Executive for Mental Illness Specific Grant (MISG). Since local government reorganisation, all local authorities have applied and grant paid by the Scottish Executive is as follows:

  


COUNCIL


1996-97


1997-98


1998-99


1999-2000




Aberdeen City


632,792


480,440


636,817


636,497




Aberdeenshire


501,048


520,800


519,724


519,618




Angus


288,960


289,100


287,383


289,100




Argyll and Bute


274,883


281,652


289,655


274,712




City of Edinburgh


1,210,440


1,210,440


1,210,300


1,210,300




Clackmannanshire


99,680


56,304


113,820


99,400




Dumfries & Galloway


338,415


336,000


335,590


335,591




Dundee City


306,959


307,020


305,028


307,300




East Ayrshire


281,396


211,051


281,400


289,100




East Dunbartonshire


112,560


112,700


147,700


137,928




East Lothian


198,486


200,808


200,649


199,584




East Renfrewshire


56,280


38,071


51,100


51,100




Falkirk


380,270


280,320


364,204


350,400




Fife


740,072


805,022


804,369


804,300




Glasgow City


2,478,912


2,532,600


2,345,136


2,365,090




Highland


538,135


269,067


538,134


538,134




Inverclyde


177,840


173,468


173,600


173,600




Midlothian


222,422


238,700


258,971


238,700




Moray


141,048


143,220


165,152


143,500




North Ayrshire


155,458


137,274


168,700


176,400




North Lanarkshire


534,119


506,800


506,800


506,800




Orkney


119,400


119,700


119,700


119,700




Perth & Kinross


235,670


245,442


245,120


245,000




Renfrewshire


309,618


337,400


347,200


337,400




Scottish Borders


280,000


280,000


279,286


266,761




Shetland


148,420


148,400


148,400


148,351




South Ayrshire


338,018


286,168


309,400


270,900




South Lanarkshire


684,360


675,500


675,500


678,333




Stirling


187,045


187,045


186,900


182,610




West Dunbartonshire


225,120


225,400


224,840


225,120




West Lothian


178,190


183,400


183,400


182,559




Western Isles


145,150


147,000


146,916


146,937




Total


12,521,166 


11,966,312 


12,570,894 


£12,450,825

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of match funding is required from local authorities for each grant under the Mental Illness Specific Grant, how much extra money was awarded to each local authority on the introduction of this grant and what percentage of these applications was turned down and for what amount of money because the local authority could not match fund them.

Iain Gray: Local authorities are required to meet 30% of Mental Illness Specific Grant (MISG) and provision for this is made in the GAE provision for each authority. This totalled £0.9 million in 1991-92, £1.8 million in 1992-93, £3.0 million in 1993-94, £4.2 million in 1994-95 and £5.4 million in 1995-96, continuing at that level since.

  Voluntary organisations make applications to local authorities for MISG for individual projects. Figures about projects whose applications have been unsuccessful due to financial constraints are not available.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations have received grants from the Mental Illness Specific Grant and how much money they have received, broken down by local authority area.

Iain Gray: As the answer to this question is lengthy, I shall write to the member and arrange for the answer to be placed in SPICe.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what has been the level of Mental Illness Specific Grant available in each year since its introduction.

Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive provides 70% of Mental Illness Specific Grant (MISG) grant with the remainder being met by local authorities from their GAE provision.

  MISG was introduced for 1991-92 at £3 million (£0.9 million provided by local authorities). This was increased to £6 million (£1.8 million) in 1992-93 and then to £10 million (£3 million) the following year. Total grant was increased again to £14 million (£4.2 million) in 1994-95 and finally to its current level of £18 million (£5.4 million) in 1995-96.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to up-rate the Mental Illness Specific Grant in line with inflation.

Iain Gray: There are no plans to increase the level of Mental Illness Specific Grant in the current year. The level of funding available for 2001-02 onwards will be determined in light of the outcome of the Spending Review.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the aggregate external finance required by local authorities for social work mental health services in each of the last three years and whether it has any plans to increase this figure for future years in the light of this assessment.

Iain Gray: The allocation to local authorities for social work increased from £1,010 million in 1997-98 to £1,050 million in 1998-99 and to £1,101 million in 1999-2000. It is for authorities to determine what should be allocated to services for people with mental health problems.

Mental Illness

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many carers who look after people with mental illness it estimates have received respite care and how many it estimates have required respite care but not received it on an annual basis since 1995.

Iain Gray: The information requested is not held centrally. Short-break services (respite care) are usually provided to the cared-for person rather than their carer, although carers undoubtedly benefit from such services. Under the Strategy for Carers in Scotland, however, £10 million has been earmarked this year for local authorities to provide services to support carers, including short-break services. This should lead to a real increase in support for carers, including those caring for relatives or friends with mental health problems.

  I have also made £200,000 available this year to the voluntary sector to help implement the strategy. This will help carers’ groups across Scotland to access and share information on services. It will also help empower carers in consultations with health and social services on the planning and development of local services to meet their needs.

Ministerial Costs

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many miles were travelled by each Minister using the Government car service in the last financial year.

Mr Jack McConnell: Details of mileage travelled by individual Scottish Executive Ministers in GCS vehicles are not recorded separately. The GCS also provides for the transportation of UK Ministers when in Scotland, office bearers of the Scottish Parliament, officials, visiting dignitaries and the judiciary.

Multiple Sclerosis

Dr Richard Simpson (Ochil) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Chief Scientist Office has to contribute to Scottish, UK or European studies into the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) in view of the incidence of MS in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The Chief Scientist Office is not currently contributing to such studies, but would consider doing so in research projects worthy of support.

  There are a large number of projects on multiple sclerosis currently taking place in the UK and details of these are available from the National Research Register (NRR), a copy of which is in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were undershot for the last financial year by public bodies within its responsibility and, if so, by which bodies.

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any external finance limits were overshot by public bodies within its responsibility for the last financial year and, if so, by which bodies and what action was taken in response.

Mr Jack McConnell: The table below details the 1999-2000 budget and outturn figures for those public sector bodies that are set external financing limits:

  





Budget


£000
Outturn




National Health Service Trusts


52,026


52,028




Highland and Islands Airports Ltd


12,700


12,300




Caledonian MacBrayne


24,400


21,400




Scottish Enterprise


372,769


372,769




Highlands and Island Enterprise


65,390


65,390




Scottish Water Authorities


221,900


221,900




  National Health Service Trusts EFL for 2000-01 will compensate for the overshoot in 1999-2000.

Roads

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8805 by Sarah Boyack on 21 August 2000, whether it is satisfied that the timescale for all possible planning and legal procedures in connection with the Glasgow Southern Orbital is such that procurement of it and the M77 through a single Public/Private Partnership will entail no delays in the projected timescale for completion of the A77/M77 upgrade.

Sarah Boyack: I refer to my answer to question S1W-8805 on 21 August 2000. A single Public/Private Partnership contract for the M77 and the Glasgow Southern Orbital could only proceed if East Renfrewshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council are able to complete the statutory procedures for the Glasgow Southern Orbital. The current programmes for the Glasgow Southern Orbital and the M77 extension between Fenwick and Malletsheugh will permit construction of a combined scheme in line with the timetable for the M77 which I published last November in Travel Choices for Scotland: Strategic Roads Review .

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has been given by the Scottish Qualifications Authority regarding the ability of the SQA to discharge efficiently its functions in relation to this year’s examinations and whether any of this information has been inaccurate.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Since March the Scottish Executive has received information and reassurances from the Scottish Qualifications Authority about every stage of the examination system, in response to concerns we had raised. The extent to which this information was inaccurate will be revealed by the independent inquiry which I have commissioned.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of any additional costs which will be incurred by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) or itself arising from the situation in relation to this year’s Scottish examinations; whether it has received from the SQA an estimate of any such costs; whether it will place its estimate of these costs in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, and whether it will include within this estimate details of any additional costs covering (a) overtime paid to staff, (b) costs of recruitment, (c) payment to additional workers, (d) any payments of higher rates to markers if this has been necessary because of any shortage of markers, (e) any hire of extra premises including any use of an indoor bowling club and (f) any additional costs in relation to handling of appeals including re-marking of papers.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Officials are discussing with SQA their resource needs. In addition, there may be expenditure implications that flow from inquiries that are underway. Estimates of any additional costs will be notified to Parliament in the usual way.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or any person or body acting on its behalf sought to influence statements by Professor Lindsay Paterson of Edinburgh University regarding the examination system.

Mr Sam Galbraith: No. A Scottish Executive official contacted Professor Lindsay Paterson on 11 August to ask him to assist in resolving the difficulties by sharing with the Executive the evidence of problems with the production of this year’s exam results which he had referred to in interviews. Professor Paterson declined, and I am not aware of any further contact by or on behalf of the Executive.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will quantify the impact on the number of school pupils admitted to further or higher education this year of any difficulties with the examination marking process.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service announced on 13 September that the number of Scottish students entering UK higher education institutions is 3.3% higher than this time last year. Information on admissions to further education colleges is not collected centrally, but I understand that they have agreed not to withdraw conditional offers of places from applicants whose results were incomplete or are subject to appeal.

Voluntary Sector

Shona Robison (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a system of accreditation or quality control for registered voluntary advice centres exists and, if not, what plans it has to introduce such a system.

Henry McLeish: Although policy on consumer protection is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Executive has been closely involved with the work being carried out by the Department of Trade and Industry to develop a new high quality advice network. The Consumer Support Network (CSN), to be launched shortly, encourages existing local providers of consumer advice to join up to offer a quality service. Participating advice centres in Scotland will be badged so people will know where they can go for reliable advice on consumer matters.

Waste Management

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice and guidance it will be providing to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency about the Agency’s consideration of the environmental impact assessment of the proposal by Babcock Rosyth Defence Limited to store radioactive waste on land at Rosyth from HMS Renown.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is a statutory consultee of the local planning authority under the terms of the Environment Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999. In that context, SEPA acts independently. There is, however, general guidance on those Regulations, Circular 15/1999, issued by the Scottish Executive. A copy of that guidance is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, reference code 7217.

Waste Management

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of intermediate radioactive waste are currently being stored broken down by location.

Sarah Boyack: The latest information on the amount and location of radioactive waste in the UK is contained on the CD-ROM 1998 United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory , a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, reference code 8385.